Loading...
Please wait, while we are loading the content...
Similar Documents
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Title Ceramic capillaries for use in microarray fabrication
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | George, Reed A. Woolley, John Patrick Spellman, Paul R. |
| Copyright Year | 2001 |
| Abstract | We have used ceramic capillary tips generally used in the microelectronics industry for the production of DNA microarrays. The ceramic tips improve the morphology of microarray elements, allow higher element density, and increase printing tip life over the customary slotted stainless steel pins. Ceramic capillaries are less expensive than steel pins and allow printing from 1536-well sample source plates. In this paper, we describe experiments that verify (establish?) printing performance of these ceramic tips, and hybridization experiments that demonstrate that DNA hybridization is unaffected by the choice of tip material. Reed A. George, page 2 Introduction Over the past several years, the applications of DNA microarray technology have diversified from the initial gene expression studies in yeast (Schena et al. 1995, DeRisi et al. 1997) to include the characterization of human cancer tumor tissues (Perou et al. 2000), high-throughput SNP genotyping (Hacia et al. 1999), and the study of in vivo binding of transcription factor proteins (Ren et al. 2000). Two very different technical approaches to microarray production have enabled this rapid expansion: synthesis of short oligonucleotide probes directly on glass surfaces (in situ synthesis) and the deposition of probes (either PCR products or oligonucleotides) onto glass surfaces using either metal pins or modified ink jet systems (spotted arrays). A low-cost robotic system developed at Stanford University for producing spotted arrays has found application in many laboratories (Schena et al. 1995, Bowtell et al. 1999). This system uses stainless steel printing tips, similar in design to a fountain pen, to aspirate and deposit DNA onto glass microscope slides. Through repeated cycles of sample aspiration, deposition onto a series of slides, and cleaning of the printing tips, high-density microarrays are produced. We have developed a microarray production method that uses cylindrical ceramic capillary tips instead of stainless steel tips. The capillaries are adapted from microelectronics applications, where they are typically used for bonding high-density interconnections (wires less than .001” in diameter) during the assembly of integrated circuit packages. The capillaries are manufactured to very tight tolerances, and are available commercially. Our data demonstrate that the ceramic tips improve the consistency of deposit morphology, resist deformation over long-term use, cost less, and offer the potential for significant improvement in deposit density. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt1934471p/qt1934471p.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
